Hamlet and Shakespeare

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William Shakespeare is undoubtedly one of the most famous writers of all time. Although he had critics and lovers alike, he made major contributions to theatre, art and culture, literature and also the film industry. Up to date most of Shakespeare’s work are still being used in the world over. Today in institutions of learning and in many different areas like in theaters where his plays are being performed. His works have been read and accepted in almost every parts of the world especially in English speaking nations. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon where he spent most of his childhood years. He joined a grammar school called king’s new school and this is where he studied acting, theatre and some Latin literature. After school he spent some time with his dad and at the age of 18years he got married to Anne Hathaway with whom they had three children. Amongst these three children was s a boy named Amnet .He was the only boy that Shakespeare had, but unfortunately at the tender age of eleven he passed away .This affected his father so much emotionally. It was at the period after his son’s death that he wrote the hamlet, and so his son’s death is seen as an inspiration to him for writing the play. His active involvement into real theatre came when he joined the Elizabethan theatrical productions where they would travel and entertained local people, men working at the queen’s palace. He even created a play about the queen’s visit which he witnessed in a palace near his place.

He moved to London where he worked at the globe theatre mostly writing plays and acting through theatre troupes. He travelled mostly between London and his hometown of Stratford and the provinces. During this time when he was moving up and down he found time and wrote more poems and plays. With the cooperation of his friends, he formed his association where they performed regularly in different theatres including in the globes theatre in London. He also featured in the play the hamlet by acting as the ghost in the play –the hamlet. This was not the only performance that he took part in but many more of his plays.

There is no specific date as to when the hamlet was written, but from historical sources it was written between 1599 and 1603.It was first performed between the years of 1600-01 at the end of the 15th century. It is viewed by many as one of the most successful works of Shakespeare (Taylor and Thompson 134). It is one of his works that has been adopted and used in many areas more than most of his other works. The source of the hamlet for Shakespeare is believed to be an earlier version known as ur- hamlet. During the times of Shakespeare, the hamlet was written in three different versions. The first version was written in the year 1603 and was named the revenge of hamlet prince of Denmark (Taylor and Thompson 145). This firs version was named the first quarto. It is believed that this version was mostly written from already existing sources so it had lot of shortcomings. The second versions also known as the second quarto was published in 1604 and is seen as the real hamlet because it was from Shakespeareans own sources. It is the source behind most recent editions of the hamlet. Later, the second version0051 also known as the second quarto was edited and it appeared in a collection of his works in1623. It was more literally inclined than dramatic contrary to the previous editions.